It has been a while since I’ve done a Volvo on CC. Kind of embarrasing, since I’ve never owned anything but a Volvo (well, until very recently; more on that later). While in Iowa City back in August, I saw this bright yellow 1800E sitting in a driveway, and had to pull over.

It is in fine shape, and looks to be well-loved. This one happens to be a rare ’72 model, as identified by the slotted wheels with chrome lug nuts and small center cap. The 1970-71 had blacked-out five spoke wheels, but in ’72, both the coupe and new ES wagon gained these wheels, plus the black plastic grille with vertical bars. It was the last year for the coupe, as the 1800ES soldiered on for 1973, the last year any 1800 of any stripe was offered.

Quite scarce here in the heartland, so seeing this one was nice! For further information, CCs on the 1800E and ES can be found here and here. With the recent demise of both the C30 and C70, will be ever see another sporty two-door Volvo?

The black rectangles are exhaust vents for the flow-through ventilation system, which Volvo belated added to the 1800E for 1970. It wasn’t exactly an elegant solution, but the body hadn’t originally been designed for flow-through ventilation.

That’s the first thing that comes to my mind – the Saint and that cool theme music. They showed it late night on CBC when I was a small lad. I was just thinking that I’ve never driven one of these. Much different than the upright standard Volvo of the day? They had a twin carb setup on a rear drive four, yes? With recirculating ball steering and live axle? Very nicely proportioned cars in both coupe and wagon variant. Who was the designer?

There is some debate on the actual designer. The work came out of Ghia, bot the son of a Volvo engineer was working there at the time and may have actually done the design. We touched on that a bit at a CC we did here:

I heard that at launch, P1800s were more expensive than the Jaguar E-types. I also heard that the chassis isn’t exactly sporting and not particularly fast even for Europe of ’60s. But it is such a good looking car and well proportioned.

“I heard that at launch, P1800s were more expensive than the Jaguar E-types.”

That must be a quote from an English paper. Imports to England was taxed quite heavily in those days, making for very unfavourable comparisons to their domestic offerings. It was the same thing with Alfas. A Giula Spider was as expensiv as an E-type in England, E-types being the eternal benchmark and gold standard.

When the P1800 was introduced, it was £1,837 with purchase tax in the U.K. I believe at that point an E-type was over two grand, so the Volvo wasn’t more expensive, although it certainly wasn’t cheap. In the U.S., the Jag was about $1,500 more than the Volvo, so they weren’t even close.

The last time we had a write up on an 1800 I posted that I had borrowed one from my friend’s father for a couple months. It was also a ’72, and quite rusty (damn Midwest) but looked OK and drove very nicely until the front shock mounts rusted and broke. It had fuel injection and overdrive, and even in its heavily corroded state still felt like a bank vault.

There was an early P1800 I used to walk past on my way to grade school (it was pretty new then). I spent a lot of time looking at it.

My Dad had a black ’64 that he bought used and kept forever. He sold it before I could drive but I road in it for years, first in back and then in front. I got to steer and shift from the passenger’s seat.

The seating position was low. There was nothing delicate about the shifter, it felt purposeful and robust. Interestingly you pulled up on the lever to get it into reverse. The steering was pretty heavy and slow. It had super skinny tires and took the turns much like a Volvo sedan would but with (slightly) less body roll. Very solid structure, no rattles in it ever.

It was in many ways a Swedish pony car, but smaller and more stout. The car was heavy for its size and the sheetmetal seemed really thick.

The dash was gorgeous and the 1800S was obviously, from that alone, a rather high end car. It had leather seats too, which was unusual back then.

The engine looked great in the oversized compartment. The ’64 had SU carbs that needed periodic tinkering. There was a manual choke, the only car I’ve ever been in with one. The most fascinating feature for my friends was the overdrive switch. The name and flick-of-a-switch thing was so cool plus there was a green indicator light that came on when engaged. My Dad and I would say “we’re in overdrive!” to the delight of our wide-eyed passengers.

The engine was a pushrod design and not very powerful but it sure sounded good through the stock exhaust system which was sport tuned.

The later models had downgraded interiors. I thought Volvo did a fanatic job keeping the car fresh with those bright exterior color choices and black-out trim in the later years. Volvo was a pioneer when it came to using black-out. I loved this yellow and the medium aqua-green, but my favorite color was the orange on the 1800ES wagon.

One strange thing about almost every coupe I’ve seen, including my Dad’s, is the removal of the “Volvo” letters from the rear end after a repaint. The feature car kept the letters but put them in the wrong place.

As much as I loved the coupe I thought the 1800ES wagon was the more brilliant design. The coupe always suffered from those fins and taillights. Those may be charming now but back then conjured up images of oversized Detroit sedans which, trust me, were no longer in fashion. The small taillamps looked dated too and reminded me of a ’49 Ford. The wagon changed all of that and remains to this day the most impressive styling transformation I’ve ever seen. Would love to own one some day.

Fitting that you should mention the cancellation of the C30 and C70. Volvo ended production of the C30 last December so those last cars sold this year were really the end-of-the-line.

Also, I should note that the C30 was the last Volvo – and last Swedish car of any kind – to offer a manual gearbox in the U.S. As of the 2014 MY, all Volvos will be automatic-only. If I got a C30, my #1 priority would be to look for one with a 6-speed stick.

This past January, my brother traded in his worn-out 2001 Dakota 4×4 for a burnt orange metallic ’11 C30 R-Design. He had never shown any interest in owning a Volvo so I was floored to say the least. He loves that car!

These were gorgeous! An associate had a red one in 1969 before he went in the reserves, and he kept it in good shape. After I entered the USAF, I lost track of him for several years, and when I did get in touch with him, the car was gone. He drove a Chevelle then.

A nice twist of the CC Effect: In the breakfast room of our hotel here in Halmstad, Sweden, is a big black & white photo of a parade of old cars going by, featuring the P1800 and an E-Type Jag. I took a photo of the photo, at a bit of an angle and cropped, to share with you. (An interesting problem in projective geometry.) The photo looks period but on closer inspection I think it’s more recent.

Here in Sweden, surrounded by fine Scandinavian design and natural beauty indoors and out, it’s easy to see where the classic P1800 came from.

Visit Scandinavia and you’ll be surrounded by great design, in buildings, furniture and so on.

But, in cars, there was nothing like this until, perhaps, the first Volvo S60. Previous Volvos and SAABs had some interesting features etc but no real Scandinavian design. The 1976 Rover 3500 SD1 had a more Scandinavian interior than a contemporary Volvo or SAAB

My favorite 60’s sports cat/GT = why? Because it was perhaps the only one that wouldn’t leave you stranded somewhere…….. Yes, the B20 engine was not as powerful or sophisticated as others, but it was anvil-like strong.

These were quite common in California through the ’70’s but now seeing one is perhaps an annual event. I only drove one, a pre-E model, and despite common mechanicals it felt nothing like a 122 or 140. The low driving position and short shifter overwhelmed any similarity of power train and suspension. At the time they did little for me but I think they’ve aged well. Or maybe it’s just nostalgia. Note that on these later cars the side molding stayed straight and didn’t curve upwards with the crease in the sheet metal. At the time that screamed “no money for new stamping dies!” but now it’s hardly noticeable.